Chelsea Art Walk 2011: A Guide for Photo-philes

Tomorrow evening, more than 125 Chelsea galleries will host extended hours, artist talks, musical performances, and an assortment of other special events for the second annual Chelsea Art Walk. Fitting for the contemporary art industry, the events and special attractions include such rare opportunities as getting one’s dollar bills cut in half for souvenirs (courtesy of the artist Mark Wagner, at Pavel Zoubok Gallery); playing ping pong on a table made by Rikrit Tiravanija (at Nicholas Robinson Gallery); and shopping a collection of custom skateboards and furniture at a “pop-up skate shop” (at I-20).

The more traditional events should not be ignored, however, and there will be a number of worthwhile attractions for those interested in photography:

At 1500, gallery co-founder and curator Andrew S. Klug will deliver the talk “An Overview of Contemporary Brazilian Photography.” 1500 was the first gallery in the world to specialize exclusively in Brazilian photography, and Klug’s talk will focus on artists whom he calls the “fathers” of an emerging school of Brazilian photography: Miguel Rio Branco and Mario Cravo Neto. Klug will also integrate work by Julio Bittencourt, João Castilho, and Gustavo Pellizzon—all of whom are artists represented by 1500—into the discussion. (511 West 25th Street, 7pm.)

The photographer Sasha Maslov will speak at Sputnik Gallery about Eastern European photography and his own work, Forgotten Village, which is currently on view in the space. The series is a collection of large-scale photographs documenting the lives of coal miners in a rural Ukrainian town. (547 W 27th Street, 6:30pm.)

In conjunction with its show A Portrait Apart, Porter Contemporary is hosting “A Polaroid Portrait Moment,” during which visitors to the gallery can get their pictures taken by the photographer Jeff Ballinger, who snaps spontaneous, black and white portraits using a vintage Polaroid camera. (548 W. 28th Street, 6-8pm.)

Noteworthy photography exhibitions to catch include Miroslav Tichy: Sun Screen at Horton Gallery, featuring Tichy’s unabashedly voyeuristic, hazy portraits of nude women, both dated in their concept and timeless in their appearance; Hail Traveler: The Photographer as Tourist, and the Tourist as Subject at Rick Wester Fine Art, a robust show containing the work of a number of canonical photographers, including Richard Avedon, Robert Adams, Gary Winogrand, among others; and Satomi Shirai’s perfectly juxtaposed photographs of “scenes” within her apartment and in a dollhouse, in the show Interior at Miyaho Yoshinaga Art Prospects. (Shirai will also deliver a short talk, at 6pm).

Visit Chelsea Art Walk's website for a full list of events, performances, food and cocktail locations, and participating galleries. See you there!